Software for the evaluation of driver behaviour

Project duration: 2019 - 2022

Funded by: EU, Horizon 2020 Projekt 

Project team: Opetnik, Dippold, Hausberger

The project uCARe is funded by the EU under Horizon 2020 and aims to develop ways in which vehicle users can reduce the environmental impact of their journeys. These options will then be implemented in various pilot projects in partner regions.

At the Institute, software is being created as a basis for this, which functions as a "virtual PEMS" and virtually determines the emission levels of vehicles. The model is based on the PHEM emission model. The idea behind it is that even a layman can record and evaluate his journeys with a simple plug & play solution. The basic concept for the software is shown schematically in the following figure.

Figure 1: Schematic picture of data exchange in the uCARe driver rating system

In our approach, the driver installs an OBD (on-board diagnostics) dongle that sends vehicle speed, engine RPM and GPS data to a server. Our software runs on this server and analyses the recorded journeys. The driver receives simple feedback in the form of an evaluation of the resulting emission values (pollutant emissions and CO2) and suggestions for an optimised driving style. These suggestions include information on potential improvements regarding shift points, acceleration and top speed.

The evaluation is based on the comparison of the actual driving style with an optimal eco-driver. For this comparison, each recorded journey is simulated in 2 ways:

1. Simulation with measured values of speed and engine revs.
2. Simulation of eco-driving style with optimal gear shifting, reduced acceleration and maximum speed. Additional an evaluation of the braking behaviour as post-processing is done by the software.

The reduction potential calculated from the emissions with actual data and the eco-simulation is used for the evaluation, whereby a small reduction potential receives a good eco-rating. The following figure shows several journeys in a series of measurements. Drivers were recorded before and after an "eco-training" and the actual reduction potentials were compared with the calculated ones. The actual CO2 savings achieved slightly exceed the calculated potentials. As can be seen, changes in acceleration and braking behaviour produce the greatest savings. In addition to CO2, particulates and NOx are also taken into account in the assessment. The software gives the drivers feedback after each journey with the evaluation and improvement options.

Figure 2: CO2 reduction potentials through various measures